Jon Wilner: Winners and losers after first week of NCAA tournament

Butler coach Brad Stevens answers questions about his team in Indianapolis, Monday, March 21, 2011. Butler is scheduled to play Wisconsin on Thursday in the NCAA college basketball tournament Southeast regional in New Orleans. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)

Here's a look at the winners and losers from a wild first week of the NCAA tournament.

Winner: Butler coach Brad Stevens. Once again shows why he's one of the best in the country (terrific final play to get the layup). Awesome locker room celebration only burnished that rep.

Loser: Pittsburgh. Panthers lost to a lower seed for the fourth consecutive year. Coach Jamie Dixon builds his team for the regular season, not the NCAAs. Will he change that approach and recruit more one-and-done caliber talent?

Winner: Butler. Bulldogs join Dayton as the only teams to play four consecutive tournament games decided by 2 pts or less (two last year, two this year).

Loser: Big East. Set a record with 11 bids but only advances two teams in the Sweet 16. And let's not forget that 0-4 record vs. the Colonial, Horizon and Ohio Valley.

Winner: Virginia Commonwealth coach Shaka Smart. The hottest commodity in the country not named Brad Stevens. Let's count Smart's agent as a winner, as well.

Loser: Texas coach Rick Barnes. No reason whatsoever to call timeout with the ball, a two-point lead and 14 seconds left following a missed shot "... thereby letting Arizona set its defense. Dumb, dumb, dumb. And not the least bit surprising.

Winner: The Pac-10. Just getting three teams into the round-of-32 made it a successful tournament for the slumping, off-the-radar league. For Arizona to advance to the Sweet 16 is cause for celebration throughout the conference.

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Loser: Big 12. Five teams in the tournament, one team in the Sweet 16. And to compound its woes, the conference loses one of its best coaches, Missouri's Mike Anderson, to Arkansas.

Winner: CBS/Turner Broadcasting. Thanks to having every game televised in its entirety, ratings are at 20-year highs. Double bonus: Duke, Carolina, Kentucky and Kansas are in the Sweet 16.

Loser: Notre Dame. It's not uncommon for No. 2 seeds to lose in the round of 32. It's rare for them to get blown out. (Irish lost to Florida State by 14 after being down 20-something.) At least the Blue-Gold game is around the corner.

Winner: Mountain West. Sends two teams to the Sweet 16 (same as Big East) for the first time.

Loser: San Diego State. The Aztecs were the most unimpressive high seed (of the winners) in the round of 32, escaping Temple in double overtime. (Any of the other 7 seeds -- UCLA, Washington, A&M -- would have knocked them out.) Kemba's next. Good luck with that.

Winner: City of Richmond. Has two teams, Richmond and Virginia Commonwealth, in the Sweet 16 -- same as the Big East.

Winner: West Coast Conference: Gonzaga's upset victory over St. John's was worth $230,000 to the conference. And BYU brings all that momentum into the league next season.

Loser: My bracket. Had Florida State and Richmond in the Sweet 16. Everything else is in shambles.

Winner: Morehead State. Upset of Louisville prompted 3,000 applicants for admission the day after the game.

Loser: Vanderbilt. Bounced in the round of 64 for the third consecutive time, each loss coming to a lower seed.

Winner: Jimmer. Because he's Jimmer, and because he scored 66 points in two games and has BYU in the Sweet 16 for the first time since 1981.

Loser: Tennessee. On the wrong end of 30-point loss to Michigan, the most lopsided 8-9 game in tournament history.

Winner: John Higgins, Terry Wymer and Antinio Petty (the Butler-Pitt officials). Despite what Bay Area fans may have heard following the game from a local TV analyst, the officials absolutely made the right calls in the final 1.4 seconds. To say, "Let the players decide it" ignores the fact that they did decide it -- with dumb fouls.

Loser: Tennessee coach Bruce Pearl. Failed to get a vote of confidence from his athletic director before the Michigan meltdown. He could be fired before the close of business Monday.

Winner: Kansas. One year after KU's second-round flameout, the Southwest region opens up in epic proportions. Path to Final Four now goes through the No. 12 and 10/11 seeds. If Jayhawks don't reach Houston, coach Bill Self shouldn't bother boarding the flight back to Lawrence.